Car Show
by DragonGate
Summary: The BAU Team goes to a 4th of July classic car show raising money for ALS research, and Penelope becomes determined to show Spencer what his clunker could look like. Only there's a surprise in store for the team.


A/N: Just a short thing I wrote last night after my NaNo word count. Retirements and Reunions has not been forgotten, but this NaNo is kicking my butt and it's too late to write something else. Season 7 timeline, I guess.

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><p><em>I know a lot about cars. I can look at a car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming. <em>_- Mitch Hedberg_

Penelope Garcia picked up her phone on Saturday morning, a little irritated as she answered it. "Hello, whoever this is, you have just interrupted Penelope's sleepy time and I get very-"

"Hey, honey, I'm sorry, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to a classic car show with me." Kevin sounded like he was smiling on the other end, and her irritation dissolved.

"All right, just because it's you. Give me an hour to get ready, okay?"

"Oh, anything for you. I'll see you in an hour then. Bye." Kevin hung up and Penelope got herself out of bed, hurrying to dress. She liked classic cars, though Esther wasn't quite ready for classic status, at least she certainly didn't think so. But she had phone calls to make. She had to get the rest of the team to go too, it was the Fourth of July weekend and she wasn't letting anyone sit alone by themselves.

Emily jumped into Derek's truck. "Classic cars, I can't believe PG is interested in them."

"Have you seen Esther? That convertible could be IN the show, Prentiss."

Emily laughed. "If Reid would actually fix up that clunker of his, it could be in car shows."

Morgan shifted into drive and pulled away from the building. "Believe me, there are few hobbies more expensive than cars. Maybe home improvement, and that's about it. And I can make money back on that."

Emily shrugged as she started pushing buttons on Derek's truck radio. "Reid is a Supervisory Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who is single and lives in an apartment-"

"Who supports his mother's hospital bills, lives in a high rent area, you know how expensive renting in Georgetown is, Prentiss."

"Why don't you move him in, then?" She bit her lip in amusement at the way the wheel jerked as she added. "To one of your apartment buildings, big rent cut."

Derek glared at her. "I tried, once Reid figured out I was the landlord, he told me he won't live anywhere that has an 'tangentially uninvolved' landlord, since apparently he doesn't trust building managers."

Emily checked the direction. "Oh, I think the show's up there on the left, and apparently there's a carnival too, for the Fourth. Hotch and JJ said they were taking Jack and Henry to the fair."

Penelope spotted her friends before they spotted her. She waved enthusiastically as she dragged Kevin over to talk while Derek and Emily got out of the truck. "You guys have GOT to see this Volvo Amazon, it's factory matching sky blue, and so pretty! Oh, if our genius's car looked like that."

The two agents let themselve be dragged along, while Kevin talked. "The show's doing a competition and raising money for ALS research. You vote with donations in the boxes each of the owners has by their car."

Dave was quiet while Aaron and Jessica carried Jack between them by his hands. "Can we go see the cars, Dad?"

"If that's what you want, Jack, you sure you don't want to go on the rides first, though?"

"After, I want to see the cars."

Dave laughed, only a little hollow. "Just wait til he's sixteen, Aaron."

"Don't even make me think about it. He'll drive his Aunt Jessica's car."

She bridled back. "You aren't volunteering my car for a teenage Jack Hotchner to drive."

Jack looked up at his aunt and his dad. "I wanna drive a big truck!"

Aaron ruffled his son's hair. "When you can pay for the car insurance."

It was few minutes later by the food stand that the team members met up. Derek balanced two chili dogs before handing one to Emily. "Hey, Hotch, Rossi, over here!"

Jack was rubbernecking the shiny, waxed, and polished classics. "Think I can sit in one, Dad?"

"Make sure you ask the owner first, Jack." Aaron led his son over as Derek and Emily came up with their food.

Kevin and Penelope joined them with bags of popcorn as Penelope gushed. "You know that clunker Amazon of Reid's? We need to drag him out to this car show and show him what his car could look like, Derek! There's a beautiful '62 Amazon in the show."

"Babygirl, I called him. Reid said he would be here, anybody seen him?" All around the group, heads shook in the negative. Derek pursed his lips and pulled out his phone. "I'm not letting him spend the whole Fourth of July weeekend hiding in his apartment."

Henry squealed with delight as he beeped the Volvo's horn, while Spencer did a circle of the car. Will whistled appreciatively as he examined the engine. "How much of this did you have to replace?"

"Enough. It's always ran acceptably, and some guys in the club helped me run down original factory parts."

JJ giggled. "Belching black smoke in the parking lot at Quantico is not 'running acceptably,' Spence."

"It is for an old car. I've been maintaining my Amazon for twenty years, the black smoke was the weather and a problem with the brake lines. It won't do that anymore, it's great now." Spencer crossed his arms stubbornly. "It runs fine, and I'm going to win this car show."

Will and JJ both raised their eyebrows while Henry honked the horn again and squealed.

Spencer surrendered. "I'm going to get some food, if anybody asks, the car runs, and it's 89% factory components, manufactured mostly in-."

"Spence, go eat!"

Dave, Aaron and Jessica bought food and followed a giddy Penelope and a slightly more sedate Kevin. Derek was curious to see the car that had his Babygirl so excited, and followed along.

Jack spotted his young friend before the adults spotted each other. "Henry!"

The toddler started trying to scream happily. "Yak! Mommy, it's Yak!"

JJ scooped up her son and walked towards her friends. "You guys here to see-"

Derek nodded. "Garcia is insisting we have to see this fixed up '62 that she says Reid needs to see urgently."

Emily had pushed over to the car. "Wow, it is pretty. Reid's car could look like this?"

Derek gestured to the polished sky blue fender. "With the money for a restoration, Prentiss, yup."

JJ was about to speak when Henry beat her to it. "It is Unca Spence's car, Auntie Emmy!"

The team looked at JJ. She nodded. "Spence is getting some food, yeah, it's his Volvo."

Penelope squealed as she walked around to see the trunk and back bumper. "Oh, it's gorgeous! When did he do this? I could have given him so much advice on finding original parts."

"Apparently the guys in his car club were a big help."

Derek looked inside, where Reid had replaced the seats that he remembered having springs showing. "Well, the kid's getting some game on in here, what kind of plates does he have on it?"

Peneloped looked. "He's got a classics plate, and he hardly drives it anyway, you can drive about 2500 miles a year with a historical or classic plate."

Spencer stopped in his tracks when he saw the whole team gathered around the Amazon. He shifted his hot dog and chili fries. "Hey, guys! No comments about my clunker?"

Derek offered a hand, ignoring the fact that his friend's were sort of full. "I take everything I ever said about your car back, Reid. When did you do this?"

"Weekends, breaks, some guys in the car club finished key things I didn't know how to do or did the work for me when I was out of town. It's 89% original parts, tracked down from scrap yards in the US and Europe, and the paint job was done-"

"Reid, we don't need the details, but it looks good, man."

Kevin was stretching to look under the hood. "Oh my god, where did you track down the original factory brake line hoses. I want to know everything! Pen, look at this, he actually got the original brake pads, too, does Volvo still even make these parts?"

Derek and Emily looked at each other and decided to let the car nuts go wild as Dave walked around to the front grill where Spencer's stiff cardboard vote box was balanced precariously on the Amazon's front bumper.

He got out his wallet and dropped a twenty in the box. It was for a very good cause, and the kid could use the ego boost from placing in the competition.

Jack went around the passenger door, as JJ let Henry climb back in. "Can I?"

Spencer came around to make sure the passenger door was unlocked. "Just watch the next car, Jack, my friend over there parked way too close."

Kevin was still going on over how many of the engine parts were original as Dave came back around. "This couldn't have been cheap, Reid."

The younger man nodded absently as Jack climbed in and sat down in the passenger seat. "It helps if you spread it out. I managed to get the powertrain up to legal emissions and road safety standards myself which saved approximately $1236 on labor and actually parts are surprisingly cheap if you go through enough rural Virginia junkyards, and then I did the cosmetics along the way as I could. The paint was done on a favor," Spencer nodded towards the car on the driver's side of the Volvo, "Deke and Samuel Redding own the '65 Mustang, they're in my car club and decided to surprise me after I got out of the hospital from the gunshot wound two years ago."

He started in on the chili fries as JJ extracted Henry from the driver's seat. "Come on, now, big guy. Let's go ride some rides, why don't you ask Jack if he wants to ride rides with you?"

"Ferris weel! Yak, you wanna ride rides with me an' Mommy?"

Jack climbed out through the driver's side. "You wanna, Dad?"

Aaron took his son's hand and helped him past the car. "We have to go buy our bracelets, Jack. See you later, Reid."

Spencer hurriedly wiped the chili off his mouth with the shoulder of a faded rock band T-shirt. "Yeah, later, Hotch, I'll probably stick around here until they do the judging."

As the two families left, Derek leaned himself on a fender. "So you really did the engine work yourself, Reid?"

"That surprises you?"

"You don't look the handy type."

"My dad left when I was ten. I've kept this car running for twenty years, Morgan, and I've had to do the super's job for him in my building. I've even fixed my own plumbing, re-hung my own doors, and completely re-painted a two bedroom apartment to get $500 knocked off the rest of my rental lease agreement."

Derek raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, kid, I've been there. Man of the house, I get it. You could have spoke during that case in Oregon though."

"While JJ and Prentiss were ragging you and Rossi about guys and cars?"

"That one. You kept your mouth shut over in your corner while you were restoring a '62 Amazon back home."

"You and Rossi were busy hanging yourselves, I wasn't gonna get caught in the crossfire."

It was only years of experience of reading body language that gave Spencer enough warning to run before Derek went after him.

_I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. __- George Best_


End file.
